Theos Casimir Bernard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Theos Bernard
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Bernard practising Baddhapadmasana, in his 1943 Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience
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| Born | December 10, 1908 Pasadena, California
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| Died | 1947 (aged 38–39) Punjab, Pakistan
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| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Explorer, author, expert on Tibetan Buddhism, experiencing old-style hatha yoga |
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Theos Casimir Hamati Bernard (1908–1947) was an American explorer and writer. He was known for his studies of yoga and Tibetan Buddhism. He was the nephew of Pierre Arnold Bernard, who was also famous for yoga.
Theos Bernard wrote a book called Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience. This book gives a rare look into how old-style hatha yoga was practiced. It shows how these ancient methods, described in old texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, actually worked as a spiritual path.
Some people say that Bernard made up or exaggerated parts of his travel stories. However, he definitely learned to speak Tibetan very well. He also traveled in Tibet, met important leaders, and collected many photos, notes, old writings, and special religious items.
Contents
Biography
Early life and studies
Theos Casimir Bernard was born on December 10, 1908, in Pasadena, California. His father was interested in Eastern spiritual ideas and traveled to India. This led to his parents' marriage ending. Theos, still a baby, moved with his mother to her hometown of Tombstone, Arizona.
In 1926, Theos started studying at the University of Arizona. He became very sick with a lung illness called rheumatic pneumonia. This happened after he was pushed into a fountain on a cold day as part of a student prank. While recovering at home, he read many books on yoga from his mother's library. He was curious about claims that yoga could give "infinite energy."
From 1929, he studied law at the University of Arizona. He earned a degree in 1931. During a summer break, he met his father by chance. His father introduced him to Indian philosophy and different yoga practices. Theos's father had learned yoga from a teacher named Sylvais Hamati. His father shared the yoga knowledge Theos had been looking for.
Theos kept his yoga training a secret. He later wrote in his books that his teacher was someone he met in Arizona. He also went back to the University of Arizona to study philosophy and psychology.
Theos later found out he had a rich uncle in New York, Pierre Arnold Bernard. His uncle had also trained with Sylvais Hamati. Pierre was known for bringing Tantra to America. Theos went to meet his uncle. He fell in love with Viola Wertheim, a doctor from a wealthy family. They married in 1934. With his uncle's help, Theos studied at Columbia University in New York. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1936.
Travels in India and Tibet
In 1936, Theos traveled to India with his wife and father. His family returned home after a few months, but Theos continued his journey. He traveled all over India, meeting religious leaders and yoga teachers. In Calcutta, he met Lama Tharchin and began to study the Tibetan language.
After almost a year, he received permission to visit Tibet. He met several important government officials in Tibet. He also studied Tantric Yoga and collected many books about Tibetan Buddhism.
Bernard was a very active photographer. He took a huge number of photos and videos during his three months in Tibet. He wanted to document everything he saw. His photos helped to show his travel stories were real. They also showed Tibet as a place for personal change. When he returned to America, his photos, including those of him in Tibetan clothes or doing yoga poses, appeared in magazines.
When he came back to the United States in 1937, he claimed to be a "lama." He said he was the "first white man ever to live in the lamaseries and cities of Tibet." He also claimed to be "initiated into the age-old religious rites of Tibetan Buddhism." His stories were published in newspapers across the country. Soon after, Viola divorced him. He then gave many lectures and appeared on the radio in 1939. That same year, he published his book Penthouse of the Gods. This book was also called Land of a Thousand Buddhas in Britain. Some newspapers called him the "white lama" and reported on him in a sensational way.
Bernard was featured in popular magazines, including five cover stories in Family Circle. His second book, Heaven Lies Within Us, was about Hatha Yoga and his own life. Some of the experiences Bernard described in these books might have been exaggerated.
However, he truly learned to speak Tibetan fluently. He traveled in Tibet and met important lamas and government officials. He also returned with an amazing collection of photos, films, notes, and old writings. This collection was special because Tibet rarely allowed foreigners in at that time. His Tibetan collection included many statues, paintings, rugs, and books. This collection is now kept at the University of California, Berkeley.
Bernard helped many Westerners become interested in Buddhism, Yoga, and other spiritual traditions from India. His search for adventure and a hidden spiritual tradition was similar to the Western idea of the East. This idea was seen in books and movies like Lost Horizon, which showed a secret, happy kingdom called Shangri-la in the mountains of Tibet.
In 1939, Bernard opened the American Institute of Yoga and Pierre Health Studios.
Hatha yoga studies
In the 1940s, Bernard earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University. His studies focused on his experiences with yoga practices like asanas (poses), purifications (shatkarmas), pranayama (breathing exercises), and mudras (hand gestures). He also wrote about samadhi (a deep state of meditation). He had learned these practices around 1932-1933.
He published his Ph.D. work in 1943 as the book Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience. The book included high-quality photos of Bernard doing the yoga practices he had learned. This was one of the first books in the West, and possibly the first in English, to describe the poses and other practices of hatha yoga. It showed how hatha yoga was actually used to reach spiritual goals.
Tibetland and Lotusland
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While working on his Hatha Yoga book, he met and married the Polish opera singer Ganna Walska in 1942. She was his sixth and last wife. They bought a large estate in Montecito, California. They named it Tibetland because they hoped to invite Tibetan monks to stay there. However, this was not possible during the war. In 1946, they divorced. Walska then renamed the estate to Lotusland.
Final journey
In 1947, Bernard visited northern India again with his third wife, Helen. They went on an expedition to the Ki monastery in Himachal Pradesh. They hoped to find special old writings there. In October, while in the hills of Punjab (which is now in Pakistan), fighting broke out between different groups of people. This was part of the Partition of India. Bernard and his Tibetan friend were shot. He was declared dead several months later.
Works
- Penthouse of the Gods : a pilgrimage into the heart of Tibet and the sacred city of Lhasa (1939a)
- Heaven Lies Within Us: Yoga Gave Me Superior Health (1939b)
- Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience (1943) illustrated with 37 black-and-white photographs of Bernard in different asanas
- The Philosophical Foundations of India (1945)
